Nye wants vet affairs to ease loan repayments

February 23, 2010

VA officials sent letters this month to those veterans saying $750 a month would be taken from their stipend checks to pay back the loans beginning April 1, unless veterans contact the agency to request another payment plan.

Nye, a Democrat whose 2nd District includes Virginia Beach, asked VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to lower the required payments to no more than 20 percent of a veteran's monthly stipend, unless a veteran wants to pay more. Some receive stipends of less than $750 a month now, he said.

A heavy burden for the VA's delay in paying benefits shouldn't fall on the veterans, Nye said in a statement. "The idea of this program is to help our veterans get ahead, not to bury them in debt and paperwork."